Chapter 26: Social Network.
Spike found himself as official debate holder for the mixed group of civilians, they were predominantly human, say 75% but there were a few Felenis, a couple of Scalathor, and even a Yautja male, who appeared to be there with his human wife and their young hybrid sons, one of which was the shyest thing in the world, hiding behind his dad's legs for protection as the new comers came in, though, to be fair, both Tank and T'Kell were menacing as hell, with their size and their weapons, though that didn't stop his little brother who, unlike his brother who appeared to have white and silver patched skin with bright green eyes and red dreads, his little brother who looked to be a couple of years younger maybe about four or five at most while his hiding brother appeared to be about seven, the younger of the two had skin like his dad, brown and grey swirls, but he too had his mum's red hair done as dreads, just like his brother.
It was real hard for Spike to focus on what he was saying as he watched the youngster toddle his way right up to T'Kell, as bold as brass, it was quite a sight, looking at an 8ft tall Yautja huntress looking at the small little hybrid male.
"You're really big! You must be really strong!" the youngster said, looking up at T'Kell, she clicked her mandibles knowingly under her hunting mask.
"You are very observant, little one," she said, the youngster suddenly held his arms out to T'Kell, obviously wanting to be picked up and, even from where he stood explaining to the gathered group about what was going to happen and what they needed to do in order to save them, Spike could feel T'Kell's indecision, she looked around herself for a moment before eventually giving in and stooping down and scooping the youngster up in her arms and lifting him right up before her for a better look.
The young boy smiled all over his mandibles before reaching out and running his little hand down her hunting mask, "I bet you're really pretty under that mask, mummy always says she feels lucky that daddy chose her over all the pretty Yautja girls, she says that Yautja girls are all big strong and pretty and she dosen't know what daddy saw in her but she's glad he did," the young boy said.
T'Kell made a growling noise, "Your matriarch is indeed wise, little one, but I know why your patriarch chose an ooman to be his mate, oomans are so very wonderful in their own special way, it is something I have learned myself," she said, cradling the child protectively in the crook of her arm, letting him sit on her huge forearm.
"That's what daddy says, he says oomans are really special and no one knows the secrets of love like they do and that no one will ever love you like an ooman will," the little boy said happily, and T'Kell nodded in agreement.
"They are most special, do you see that black skinned handsome ooman over there talking to everyone?" T'Kell said, pointing at Spike, making him twitch and try to pretend that he wasn't multitasking his ass off to both watch her listen and still keep talking to the civvies.
The young boy nodded, looking at Spike, "That is my ooman, I stole him away from the other oomans and now I'm never giving him back," she said.
"Like a thief?" the young boy asked, and T'Kell roared with laughter.
"More like a huntress, little one, I hunted my prey and I caught him, now his heart and everything attached to it is my trophy, you must always remember your heritage, little one, you are as much Yautja as you are ooman, be proud, one day you will hunt your own love, stand tall and never forget who you are and where you come from, you belong to not one but two proud races, be proud little one, you puff your chest out and you give them your best battle cry and the ones that don't run in fear from your might are the ones that are worthy of your time," she said.
The little boy nodded eagerly, "Do you know how to do a battle cry, little one?" she asked, and he shook his head.
"No," he said.
"This is unacceptable! Every Yautja must know their pride through their battle cry, come, I will teach you!" she said, and, with that, she lifted her hunting mask off with her free hand and clipped it to her belt, "Now, you take a deep breath, hold it for one second while you focus all your anger, all your rage and all of your pride in who you are into one single expression, and then you let it all out at once," she said, then, taking a huge breach, she flared her mandibles and she let out a roar that shook the whole place and made everyone spin around to look.
"Oh, don't worry about her, that's just my life mate T'Kell of the Yautja Halkrath, she's just, errr, teaching," Spike said, just as the young boy in T'Kell's arms took a huge breath and, to his utter surprise, let out a bellowing roar that literally stunned everyone, most of all his parents, who both stood there, mouths hanging open.
"Excellent little one! Now that is Yaujta pride!" T'Kell said proudly, suddenly she looked down and found his older brother tugging at her armor.
"C-C-Can you teach me to do that?" he asked nervously, and T'Kell smiled brightly.
"Indeed I can, little one, come I will teach you to be a proud Yautja!" she said, and moments later she had the nervous young one roaring like he was stood victorious on a battlefield, holding his enemies skulls aloft.
Thankfully, the huge building swallowed the noise and kept it from escaping and alerting anyone outside to what was going on, but it did alert every single child in the place and it drew them like magnets to her, and suddenly T'Kell was surrounded by children of all races, which also made Spike reestimate the actual numbers of survivors, it seemed that they'd only counted the adults, the actual number was closer to 60 than forty.
After Spike had finished his Q&A slash briefing of the civilians and they'd dispersed again they all went to collect their children from T'Kell's impromptu creche and roaring lessons, god, their parents were seriously going to hate her when all their kids were howling at the fucking moon all night.
Ironically, the best one out of the lot was this absolutely tiny Felenis girl who couldn't have been more than five, she'd lost her mother and was there with her father, they both appeared to be of the Cougar genus, both having very long tails and soft looking golden fur, but when this absolutely tiny girl sucked in a huge breath and let out a roar so loud and fierce that would have sent a whole pride of lions running for the hills, even T'Kell stood there with her mandibles hanging open.
Finally her father came over to collect her, "Daddy! Daddy, did you see me! The nice huntress taught me to roar!" she said, running into her father's arms as he picked her up.
"Yes, baby, I heard you! Wow, you were fierce! You're going to scare off all the boys with that one!" her father said, playfully teasing her, and the girl giggled.
"Good, boys are smelly!" she said, smiling and swishing her long tail about, and her father bellowed a laugh.
"Is Jimmy smelly too?" he asked, and the girl flushed under her fur, she chanced a look over at a young human boy of the same age as her who was sat with his mum pretending to be a Yautja and trying to roar and she shook her head silently, making her father laugh again.
"Having fun?" Spike asked T'Kell, who was stood looking around at all the parents with their children in their makeshift tents, she turned to him and a momentary look of embarassment flashed as anger through her face, then it was quickly replaced with a dark smile.
"Yes, I did not realise having young ones was so gratifying," she said, and Spike chuckled softly.
"That's what I hear from just about every parent I've ever spoke to, tiring as all hell, but worth it," he said, removing his helmet so he could look at her properly without the scratches on his visor in the way, he was going to have to use the nano bonder on it to repair it later.
T'Kell nodded, then she turned to him, "I will expect you to give me a large brood," she said in her matter of fact voice, and Spike's jaw fell open.
"Huh?" he said, as if he hadn't heard her right.
T'Kell took a step towards him and gripped his head in both her hands in a strong and firm but at the same time gentle grip, "I wish to have a family one day, Spike, until this moment I never realized just how strong that urge is within me, but it is there, burning inside me like fire, so, as my life mate, it is your duty to make this happen, we will have a large and proud clan of our own who will belong to both my clan and yours, it may take lots and lots of practice, but I am confident we will make it happen, until that day comes we will practice most vigorous, understand?" she said in that commanding voice of hers, but the whole time she was stroking his face with her mandibles tenderly, and he couldn't help but smile.
"Yes ma'am," he said softly, and her smile brightened and she leaned in and kissed him right there in the middle of the room, sliding her tongue deep into his mouth.
"Good male," she purred, and, after nuzzling him one last time, she stood up properly and released him from the kiss, but not from her grip, now turning him so she could keep her arm around his shoulders, "Now, let us find the others and discuss our strategy," she said, looking around for Tank and Moodstone, who were over with a group of police and a couple of other armed civilians at a large table.
There were six police officers and a few civilians from the group sat with them, Tank's huge gun was sat on the table before him and while he was listening to their concerns he was tinkering with it, swapping out the power cell to recharge it and checking the servos and barrels, Spike knew he could shut down the inner barrels to conserve power if he needed to, which, if he kept chewing through ammo like he did earlier, he might just have to.
In the centre of the table was a digital map showing the city as a glowing blue wire frame from a small portable holo emitter, "Ok, we are here, this is where the control hub you guys were heading for, now, that place is totaled, as we know, now this here is the West Side boys territory, and this is the control HUB you need to reach, unfortunately, it's right next to what we think is their main base," Officer Bluepaw said, pointing to what appeared to be a large residential building like a tall block of apartments.
"Yeah, thats them, before all this shit started they all used to hang around that place like they owned it, made the whole area a no go zone, fuckers were that ballsy that they even used to harass the military guys that worked there, well, right up until a soldier shot one of them for waving a gun at him, damn, I wish I could have been there to see that," a young man with a shock of seriously curly white blonde hair on his head and the bluest eyes Spike had ever seen in his life said, he looked to be between seventeen and eighteen, though, by Spike's estimation, no older than nineteen, though he wouldn't guess he was that old.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, you used to live down there with your family, didn't you, Mark?" Officer Bluepaw said, turning to him, the young man instantly blushed under her gaze, and he nodded.
"Yeah, we had a small apartment in the adjacent building, all my parents could afford as they worked in pretty low paying jobs or we would have moved the fuck out of there, drugs, guns, prostitution, you name it and those fuckers ran it, they pretty much took over that whole building, turned it into a fortress, not even your guys would go in there unless you had serious numbers," Mark said.
"Yeah, I know the one, Xia, you're new to SWAT so you won't have had the distinct joy of having to raid the place yet, we never went into that place without at least two teams, and we never ever found a damn thing, they always knew when we were coming and everything just fucking vanished before we got there, but just walking through the place you just knew that if they put up a fight we'd be in a whole world of shit," Officer Longstaff said.
The other members of the SWAT team were all human, and they were all nodding in agreement, "I seriously don't envy you for having to live there, Mark," the only other female member of the SWAT team said, a young black woman in her late twenties and a buzzed short afro said.
"My mom and dad didn't have much choice, I was just waiting to finish school and I was outta there, just one year left and I was done, I mean, I coulda left at sixteen, but I thought no, I want to get my full diploma and get into a good college, then I could have got a good job as a programmer and got my parents outta that shit hole, guess that's all down the fucking drain now, I-I I don't even know if they're alive, god, I miss them so much," Mark said, his young shoulders sagging and Spike could see he was fighting back tears.
Xia Bluepaw reached out and Spike saw her hand tremble in the air and a hesitancy in her eyes as she looked at the young man, but then he overcame it for her as he saw the hand reaching for him and he leaned into it, letting her put an arm around his shoulders and pulling the lanky seventeen year old to her, "It's alright, Mark, you got away, you survived, and that means you're parents aren't really gone, because, even in the worse case scenario, they live on in you," she said softly, and he just sniffed as tears ran down his cheeks.
Spike smiled at this, it was obvious the Xia's mothering instincts were kicking in with the teen, at a guess, Spike put her at about twenty five, maybe twenty six, it was always incredibly difficult to tell a Felenis's age, thanks to all the fur and how they never appeared to age till their fur and whiskers went grey, Spike only knew that Whisper was thirty one because of her personal file, being furry really did have it's benefits.
"Ok, what's the chance of innocents being inside that building?" Moodstone asked, moving the map around with her hands to get a good look at it from all angles.
"Given what we've been seeing of them snatching people off the streets, mainly females, but quite a few males as well, the gang might be called the West Side Boys, but, out of the twelve captains, five of them are women, and god only knows what hell all of them are being put through right now," Officer Longstaff said.
Moodstone nodded thoughtfully, "Well, that outs the option of glassing them from orbit," she said, then she looked at Tank, "You thinking what I'm thinking, sugar bear?" she asked, and he smiled broadly.
"Aye, I think I just might, sweet tail," he said.
"You guys have a plan?" Officer Longstaff asked, and Tank nodded.
"Aye, laddie, we just might, now, is this their only base or they got more?" he asked.
"Didn't used to, but now they've kinda spread out a bit, so they got a few smaller satellite points they're holding, but we've seen them setting up in a few places while we've been scouting and by people who we've brought in," Xia said, still holding onto Mark, who still looked rather emotional and obviously worried about his parents, but then he seemed to click to what was going on and he looked up at Tank.
"You're thinking of going in there, aren't you?" he asked quickly, and Tank smiled.
"Aye, laddie, we are, this sort of shit is what we do, we figure the best thing we can do is hit them before they hit us, hopefully rescue a lot more innocent people in the process, then just toddle on over and hit that hub while we're at it," he said.
Spike picked up on the idea forming, clicking his comms PTT he began to speak, "Spike to Queen Bee, we're going to need thermal and Xray and whatever else you can get close enough to use on a building, hostile strong point and we're planning on taking it down, unknown number of hostiles and innocent people on site," he said before reading off the address and grid numbers.
Queen Bee came on line, "Roger that, Spike, we'll get in position and see what we can do," she said.
"Roger that, boss, thanks, Spike out," Spike said.
"I want in!" Mark said suddenly, and Xia's eyes went huge.
"Mark you can't! It's going to be majorly dangerous! I can't even believe that they are considering doing it!" Xia exclaimed.
"I need to see them Officer Bluepaw! I need to know!" Mark said, both exasperated and angry, but not at her.
"I know you're scared honey, but throwing yourself into danger like that is not what your mom and dad would want, they'd want their precious son to be safe and sound and happy, it's what any good parent would want, and given what a good young man I've seen you to be, your parents have raised a smart and good boy, not a fool," she said softly and reassuringly, then she took a deep breath and looked at Tank, "I'll go with you," she said, and Mark's eyes now went huge.
"Why!? We need you all here!" he exclaimed.
"I'm an officer of the law, Mark, it's my job and sworn duty to protect people, plus, I'm trained, you're just a boy..." she said, but Mark balked at that.
"I might be young, Officer Bluepaw, yeah, ok, I'm only seventeen, but I'm not a kid! They're not your parents," he said angrily, and she put a paw on his shoulder and squeezed when he tried to shrug it off.
"Not what I meant, Mark, what I mean is that you're a civilian who, other than what he's done in survival against the undead, has never fired a weapon in anger, and the undead don't shoot back, you have a bright future ahead of you, don't throw it away, that's a pretty piss poor way to repay all that your parents have done for you," she said sternly but softly, and his resolve cracked and tears came again.
"I'm just so scared that they're gone and I'm-I'm I'm all alone," he said softly, Xia slipped her arm around his shoulder again.
"It's alright, honey boy, it's alright, you got us here, all of us, and now the Spirits are here, they won't let anyone hurt us, and you have me, I'll look after you just like I promised when I found you in that dumpster, do you remember what I said to you?" she said.
Mark nodded tearfully, "You promised me that you wouldn't let anyone or anything hurt me, because that's what a good cop does, and you're a good cop," he said softly, and she nodded.
"That's right, you see all these cops here, they're all good cops, the best I've ever known, and they will all protect you and everyone here, but they can't do that if you go running off half cocked," she said softly.
"But I'm so scared Officer..." he said till she squeezed his shoulders tightly.
"You can call me, Xia, Mark, I think this counts as being off duty, don't you worry, we'll be alright, we got the Spirits with us now," she said reassuringly.
Listening to this, Spike had an idea, "You're a programmer Mark?" Spike asked, and the teen turned to look at him with his red puffy tear soaked eyes and nodded, "I'm an A plus student with a computer," he said, trying to smile.
"Well, how about this, kiddo, you help us out and I'll personally make sure that you not only get your diploma, but I'll make sure that you get into any university you want, with a fully paid tuition, no student fees, no rent, no problems, but you'll have to do the work, how's that sound?" Spike said, and Mark's eyes widened, causing the red rings to stretch.
"Y-Y-You can do that?" he exclaimed, and Spike nodded.
"Laddie, that man right there could set you up with a fully legit PHD from any university in the known universe in five minutes if he wanted to," Tank said with a grin, and Mark looked shocked.
"Five minutes? What do you think I am? A snail? Gimme one minute and you'd have a PHD and a job to use it with," Spike said with a grin.
"Seriously?" Mark exclaimed, and Spike nodded.
"But it comes with conditions, and you must meet them or you don't get it, so, what do you say? Deal?" Spike asked.
Mark raised an eyebrow, "What kind of conditions?" he asked, and Spike smiled, this kid was sharp, he liked that, reminded him of a younger him.
"Well, they're real simple, one, we're going to hook you up with a comms unit and a link up, I'm going to establish a link up with all the CCTV cameras in the area and I'm going to need an operator, you're it, you're going to be our early warning, two, you are going to listen to Officer Bluepaw there, she promised to protect you, and you're not going to going to make her job of keeping that promise hard by not doing whatever she tells you too," Spike said, and Mark looked stunned.
"That's it?" he exclaimed, looking stoked, and Spike saw Xia smiling at Mark's happy face and an idea trickled through his mind, "One more, you're going to look after that lady there, she's been good to you, I can see it, she's a good person and, in a place like this and a time like this, they are real hard to find, so you, young sir, are going to look after her, because even heroes need someone to take care of them, so that means making tea when she's thirsty, laughing at her jokes, reminding her that she's strong, telling her how good she is and how pretty she is, plus, if you want to throw in a few neck and foot rubs like I'm sure you're mom has probably needed more than once, feel free, I'm sure she wouldn't say no, in short, she has looked after and protected you, now you are going to do the same for her," he said, and Mark's mouth dropped open and he blushed bright red.
"F-F-Foot rubs?" he exclaimed quietly, and then T'Kell spoke up.
"Do not knock power of ooman male foot rubs, young ooman! I myself have recently discovered magical powers they possess! Is no better way to say thank you or show you care!" she said proudly, and Xia was blushing like crazy, showing up through her fur.
"O-O-Oh he doesn't have to do anything like that! I-I-I'm fine honestly! I'm just glad he's safe and..." she began, sounding utterly embarassed, and now Moodstone clicked on to what was happening and jumped in.
"Oh, nonsense, let me guess, since you brought him here he's been living with you right? You been playing mom, right?" she asked, and Xia flinched and nodded.
"Good, that means you're not only a good cop but a good woman as well, you took in and protected a vulnerable and scared young man and gave him some sense of stability and support in a terrifying time, but it's been hard on you too, you've lost a lot, and you're trying to be strong for both of you, so let him show his application of all you have done for him, it's the least he can do, because, worst case scenario here, you both leave here alone, but in essence, you both don't need to be alone do you? He knows you and trusts you, you know him and trust him, so, job done, you stick together and grow together, he's a good young man and you're a strong young woman, you took care of him, so let him take care of you too, in whatever way you both want," she said, smiling at her, and her confidence actually made Xia smile.
"I'll do it!" Mark said before Xia could say another word, and Xia turned and looked at him in surprise.
"R-R-Really? You'd do that? For me?" she exclaimed, and Mark nodded.
"Of course I would O...I mean Xia, you've been so good to me, you rescued me and you took me in, you've protected me, comforted me when I was scared, you've been there for me since this began, so now it's time for me to man up and be there for you, I'll make you happy, you'll see, whatever you want, I'll do, I promise!" he said, looking right at her, and she looked very flustered and twitchy.
"A-A-Anything?" she asked, and he nodded enthusiastically, and she smiled softly and nodded.
"Anything at all, anything I can do for you to make you happy I'll do, the Scalathor lady and Spike are right, you've helped me so much, kept me safe, made me feel safe, protected me, I mea,n I've never given a foot rub before, my dad always used to do stuff like that for my mom, he loves her so much, but anything I can do for you to make you happier, I'll do it, all you have to do is ask," Mark said confidently and enthusiastically.
"Ok then," she said, more confident now.
"Alright, good, problem solved, we could use the extra gun anyhow, and local intel never hurts, anyone else want some payback on these fuckers? Bear in mind, we can't take everyone because we need to keep this place protected, we have other elements in play in the city and we're hoping they will make their way here soon, so we'll have reinforcements, we'll contact others in our team and get them to move our operations here, this is a far more defensible position than the one we were setting up as our HQ," Spike said, and Moodstone nodded and got on the Comms to Ice in order to get her to move the home base and to give her the coordinates, between them, Ice, and Paul Twenty, they could take care of the rest, she would also send a burst message to the others in the team so that they were aware.
Officer Longstaff volunteered to be their extra gun, and Spike promised to take a look for Mark's parents, he was incredibly grateful for that and the rest of the day was spent planning the assault using intel that was being sent to them from the Queen Bee using the incredible sensors aboard the Ghost's Shadow, she sent them real time images showing thermal imaging and X ray, as well as a few other things which showed a detailed layout for the building and the locations of what they believed to be civillians as well as guards.
Spike, using his systems, managed to tap into still working CCTV camera's all over the city, as he did, he had Mark on his shoulder watching in utter awe, "How are these things still working? Power's out all over the city?" he asked, and Spike smiled.
"Simple, kiddo, a lot of places have battery back ups, or independent power supplies for just such an occasion, everything tied in to the main grid is down, but all these are not, and the good news is we have four in that area, none on the hub itself as they are on the closed military net, accessible only from inside the building itself, but these are on posts or buildings that most likely have solar power hooked into them, so you can see everything from right here," Spike said.
"That's incredible! You guys are amazing, Mr. Spike," Mark said, looking at the coding that Spike was writing faster than his eyes could read.
"Ahh, it's just a lot of practice, and the right mind, kid, a mind that I can already see that you have," Spike said, smiling at him.
"Oh, I agree entirely," a voice said behind him suddenly, and they both looked to see Xia standing there, "He does stuff on a phone that I coudn't even hope to figure out with a persacomp," she said, smiling and wrapping an arm confidently round the embarassed teen's shoulders.
"I'm not that good, Xia, not like Mr. Spike here," he said, and Spike laughed.
"Wasn't born this good, kid, made all the same mistakes that probably you have and have yet to have, you can do this stuff too, you just need the right practice and training and you'll do fine, be confident in yourself, you're a nerd, and major league one," Spike said, and Mark looked even more embarassed and a little hurt by that, and he even saw Xia's protective instincts flare up as a flash of anger went through her eyes.
"You didn't have to say it like that, you know, besides, what's wrong with being a nerd?" Mark said in a soft, hurt voice, and Spike laughed again.
"Absolutly nothing, kiddo, best thing in the world, don't do yourself down or be ashamed of it, embrace the nerd and own it like it owns you, plus, the girls really dig nerds, they pretend like they don't, but they do, the girls that don't dig nerds are the ones that don't value a man for his intelligence and only see his body or his muscles, which means they're shallow as fuck and not worth your time anyway, air heads and a million other names for em, but the strong girls, the good girls, the brave girls, the truly courageous and heroic girls? Oh yeah, they utterly dig us nerds, because not only do we appreciate them more, but because we see them for who they are and they can have meaningful conversations with us, they can laugh and joke with us, they can be themselves with us and not worry about us judging them because we're already too worried about them judging us that we wouldn't dare, makes a ground for true equality to bloom, plus, with us they don't have to worry about all the machoistic bullshit, no horn dogging and cheating because nerds are all the loyal type," Spike said, and both Mark and Xia looked amazed and curious.
"Really?" they both said in unison, and Spike grinned, then he turned and pointed at T'Kell who was at the map table pointing and talking about her ideas on the assault.
"You see that woman, mountain of prime Yautja beef cake, right there? The one who looks like she could tear a man's spine out with her bare hands and then floss her crack with it, FYI, she can do just that," Spike said, indicating T'Kell, and they both nodded.
"That woman is mine, and I am hers, and don't think that I'm the brains and she's the brawn, that woman is a tactical genius and I can handle a gun better than just about anyone in this room, save for the other Spirits, but, putting aside our hiccups getting started, she's now the most important thing in my world, as I am in hers, true equals, and nothing more or less, because I'm a nerd who caught her eye and she's the woman whose strength utterly took my breath away," Spike said, smiling dreamily as T'Kell turned and caught him gazing at her.
"Truly? Strong girls truly dig nerds?" Mark asked, and Spike laughed again and then raised an eyebrow.
"You're the one with a gorgeous Felenis hero cop who pulled your skinny ass out of a dumpster then proceeded to bring you here and keep you safe when it would've been a fuck ton easier to have just left you there or just dumped you when, instead, she has you here leaning on your shoulder, you tell me," Spike said, and Xia ears and tail went crazy with embarassment and she blushed bright red.
"I-I-I'm no hero!" she exclaimed, and Mark spun and looked right at her.
"That's not true! You're totally a hero, you save me and loads of others, it was you that kept going back out to find people just because you thought there had to be someone left to help! Someone who was scared and alone and terrified, someone who thought no one was going to come and that they were going to die alone, you went back out there to stop that happening to them, when the West Side Boy's attacked us you were the first to return fire on them and to drive them off! It was you who made sure that when we went out for food that the runners brought back things for the kids like toys and games! You are a hero to all of us, Xia, you're a hero to me! Spike is right, you're a beautiful hero!" Mark said, making Xia look at him in wide eyed surprise.
"Y-Y-You really think so? You think I'm beautiful?" she stammered, and Mark smiled and blushed.
"I might be only seventeen, Xia, but I'm not blind, you're the sort of woman who, at my school, you'd have had all the jocks of all races posing like a flock of peacocks around you, a woman that a guy like me would have only been able to stare at and hope that, by some divine twist of fate, that I might get the chance to talk to, like you drop a book and I get to pick it up or something, plus, you're a great surrogate mom, you make people feel safe and cared for, around you I feel safe, I only ever feel like that around my mom," he said in an incredibly embarassed and small voice.
Xia looked utterly stunned, "I-I-I just wanted people to feel safe, not to feel as scared as I feel, I like caring for people, it makes me feel useful and I thought that if I could stop them from panicking I would be," she said quietly, and Mark nodded.
"And you did just that," he said, sensing an opportunity, Spike stepped in.
"Exactly, you gave him what he needed, a beautiful protector to make him feel safe and secure, and he gave you what you needed, someone to love and care for to make you feel alive and useful, but now he can also give you what you want as well, not just to feel useful but to feel stong and alive, you can be his protector and, in turn, he gains himself a pretty protector who will look after, support, and care for him in both his goals and his dreams, plus, you get yourself a handsome young nerdy human to look after, win win, I'd say, he's already said he'd do whatever it took to look after you as well, so let him, you want a foot rub, ask him, you want your shoulders massaged, ask him, you want a hug to feel safe and secure, ask him, you want a set of arms to hold you at night and a heartbeat to fall asleep to, just say the word, want to finally taste a human mouth after wondering what it feels like for so long, tell him to pucker up, let him take care of your wants and your needs, just like he lets you take care of his, you never asked for anything in return and now he's offering of his own free will," he said, and Xia looked utterly startled and her tail was going around like a propeller.
"K-K-Kiss him! B-B-But he's just a boy, and I'm ten years older than him!" she exclaimed, and Spike smiled.
"I noticed you didn't say he's ugly or that you don't find him unattractive," he said, further backing her into a corner.
"Well, of course I didn't say that because that would be lying, he is handsome, but he's just a teenager and I'm ten years older than him!" she stammered, making excuses, but Mark's eyes had gone dinner plate sized and Spike smiled slyly.
"You're a cop, whats the age of consent for all races on New Britania?" he asked.
"Well, sixteen, but that's besides the point, I'm too old for him, and if I'm acting like his mother I doubt he'd want me asking something like that of him!" she exclaimed.
"Oh? You think so, huh? You know, some boys love the feeling of being mothered, that safe feeling of having a protective female watching over them, like a female authority figure, a strong woman who's firm but fair, who will support them and help them achieve their dreams, while making them feel protected and safe, a kinda gentle dominance if you will, there's a lot of human nerds like that, hell, look at me with T'Kell, she could snap me in two with a flick of her wrists and she worships the ground I walk on, but she's not afraid to tell me what she thinks, or to guide me when she believes I'm wrong, she's strong and powerful, gentle and kind," he said.
Xia looked confused, but Mark suddenly spoke up, "He's right, Xia! Your age has nothing to do with who you are! You're a beautiful kind, compassionate woman, I agreed to do the things to help you in any way I could because I want to! I want to make you as happy and as safe as you make me, you are not too old for me, until you said it I had no idea how old you were, and I still thought you were beautiful, I felt utterly lucky that someone as pretty as you wanted to take care of me, I'd do anything to prove it to you, anything, kissing and hugging included," he said, sounding embarassed as hell, but being as strong as he could, and Xia looked utterly stunned.
"Look, I know I'm not going to be any good at it, I mean, I've never actually done anything with anyone, but I'll try my best and if you teach me I'll learn, I'll make you happy, I swear I will," he said with such determination that Spike smiled.
"Give the boy a chance, Xia, what have you got to loose? We might be dead at any minute in a place like this, life here is too short to worry about what ifs when there might not be what is," Spike said.
Xia took a deep, uncertain breath, and then nodded, "Alright then, Mark you're on, if that's what you want I'll agree, but with rules! Number one, if you are uncomfortable with something you tell me, you don't have to do something just because I want to, if you don't like the idea or you're not ready you tell me..." she began, and Spike listened as she read him the riot act and Mark just stood there smiling and nodding like an eager puppy waiting for her to throw a ball and Spike nodded, "Score one more for team nerd, yet another pretty girl goes to the brain team," he said under his breath before the pair finished with a hug and pair of very quiet, "Thank you."
"Spike, my love, you're leaning on you're comms button again, now get your skinny black rear over here and kiss me or this prime cut of finest female Yautja beef is going to come over there and throw you over her shoulder, carry you off to a dark corner and ravish you," T'Kell said in his ear, and he looked up and found her grinning at him darkly and he just smiled back, but, before he got to his feet, he heard what he swore sounded like a gunshot.
"We got incoming!" the sentries yelled out, and the whole place turned into a scramble.